LIVE FROM THE PIT: AFI and TR/ST
- Ellen Lovell
- 7 hours ago
- 3 min read
It’s been almost a decade since Californian four-piece AFI has graced the UK with their presence, and sixteen years since they last embarked on a headline tour here. In that time they have released four new albums – including 2025’s synthwave and post-punk tinged Silver Bleeds the Black Sun... – signed two separate record deals and constantly evolved their sound. Now, fans pack into Birmingham’s O2 Institute to see how those sixteen years have worn on them.
But first, the stage fills with thick smoke and Canadian darkwave band TR/ST emerge. Backlit for the entire set by bright stage lights, it’s impossible to catch a good glimpse at either of the mysterious figures on stage – but this shroud only adds to the atmosphere that they are creating. Their synth beats flicker between dark and pulsing, and light and airy, whilst the vocals sound dream-like and echoey. It’s exactly how you might imagine the music of some exclusive gothic nightclub in Berlin to sound – cool, intense, and dark.
In between sets is where the buzz starts to drum up in the crowd. The room is packed right up into the rafters, full of fans who have waited years for this. And when the lights go dark, they erupt.
The band emerges one by one - drummer Adam Carson is first, followed by bassist Hunter Burgan, and guitarist Jade Puget. Finally, vocalist Davey Havok explodes onto the stage. Adorned in a full leather outfit and sporting a handlebar moustache and wild, curly hair, Havok looks like an entirely different person than when he last graced the stage here, but his stage presence and energy easily match up to the campy 80’s rock and roll aesthetic he has adopted.
He leaps straight up onto a monitor, mic stand up in the air as he leads the audience into the first track, Strength Through Suffering. Like no time has passed since their last time here, the crowd chant the lyrics feverishly and obediently, right into Girl’s Not Grey from their 2003 album Sing the Sorrow.
For a band that has been around for such a long time, it’s to be expected that their playing is tight – and it is. What’s perhaps less expected is the sheer amount of energy they all seem to have. Havok bounces around to cover every inch of the stage, leaping from the podium the drums are perched on and standing on blocks to better see the fans on the balconies. Burgan and Pudget dodge his swinging microphone as they run around with their guitars, leaning out into the crowd and playing with their backs together when the mood strikes them. No one on stage is still for a single second, and that energy is easily matched by the crowd.
The setlist bounces between new songs and old, including deeper cuts like Endlessly, She Said from 2006’s Decemberunderground and newer tracks from their latest album. Despite the average age of the audience appearing to be nearing the forty mark, the ‘no crowd surfing’ signs appeared to have been thoroughly ignored. Everyone seems to be having such a good time that when Havok takes a break between songs half-way through the set to let everyone know that he’s not feeling well and his voice isn’t doing the best, it’s a genuine surprise to hear. It’s hard to imagine them performing any better than this.
When they leave the stage, it isn’t long before the crowd chants the same line they had chanted for their opening track as a demand for their return - “through our bleeding, we are one”. Ending on a high, it was perhaps inevitable that they would end on Miss Murder, their most popular song by a good distance – but it’s a marvel at how elevated it sounds live. Or maybe it’s just because three thousand people are singing along too.
When they leave the stage, the room is still buzzing. There aren’t many things that are worth waiting sixteen years for, but for British AFI fans, this show was undoubtedly one of them. Now, all we can do is hope that it won’t be so long before they’re back again.
Words: Ellen Lovell
Photos: Nicola Small
Comments